CE Week #2: “Obama’s spell comes to quick end”
“A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe.”
– President Obama, Feb. 4
Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared “we have chosen hope over fear.” Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill.
And so much for the promise to banish the money changers and influence peddlers from the temple. An ostentatious executive order banning lobbyists was immediately followed by the nomination of at least a dozen current or former lobbyists to high position. Followed by a Treasury secretary who allegedly couldn’t understand the payroll tax provisions in his 1040.
Followed by Tom Daschle, who had to fall on his sword according to the new Washington rule that no Cabinet can have more than one tax delinquent.
The Daschle affair was more serious because his offense involved more than taxes. As Michael Kinsley once observed, in Washington the real scandal isn’t what’s illegal, but what’s legal. Not paying taxes is one thing. But what made this case intolerable was the perfectly legal dealings that amassed Daschle $5.2 million in just two years.
He’d been getting $1 million per year from a law firm. But he’s not a lawyer, nor a registered lobbyist. You don’t get paid this kind of money to instruct partners on the Senate markup process. You get it for picking up the phone and peddling influence.
At least Tim Geithner, the tax-challenged Treasury secretary, had been working for years as a humble international civil servant earning non-stratospheric wages. Daschle, who had made another cool million a year (plus chauffeur and Caddy) for unspecified services to a pal’s private equity firm, represented everything Obama said he’d come to Washington to upend.
And yet more damaging to Obama’s image than all the hypocrisies in the appointment process is his signature bill: the stimulus package. He inexplicably delegated the writing to Nancy Pelosi and the barons of the House. The product was not just bad, not just flawed, but a legislative abomination.
It’s not just pages and pages of special-interest tax breaks, giveaways and protections, one of which would set off a ruinous Smoot-Hawley trade war. It’s not just the waste, such as the $88.6 million for new construction for Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have shrinking enrollment and no plans for new construction.
It’s the essential fraud of rushing through a bill in which the normal rules (committee hearings, finding revenue to pay for the programs) are suspended on the grounds that a national emergency requires an immediate job-creating stimulus – and then throwing into it hundreds of billions that have nothing to do with stimulus, that Congress’ own budget office says won’t be spent until 2011 and beyond, and that are little more than the back-scratching, special-interest, lobby-driven parochialism that Obama came to Washington to abolish. He said.
The Age of Obama begins with perhaps the greatest frenzy of old-politics influence peddling ever seen in Washington. By the time the stimulus bill reached the Senate, reports the Wall Street Journal, pharmaceutical and high-tech companies were lobbying furiously for a new plan to repatriate overseas profits that would yield major tax savings.
California wine growers and Florida citrus producers were fighting to change a single phrase in one provision. Substituting “planted” for “ready to market” would mean a windfall garnered from a new “bonus depreciation” incentive.
After Obama’s miraculous 2008 presidential campaign, it was clear that at some point the magical mystery tour would have to end. The nation would rub its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama would give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell – and that this president told better than anyone.
I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks.
Charles Krauthammer is a columnist for the Washington Post Writers Troup. His e-mail address is letters@charleskrauthammer.com.
This article took a very interesting approach to a couple of problems President Obama is having with the beginning of his administration. The author is very cynical of both Tom Daschle and the economic stimulus package that passed the Senate Tuesday. However, there is some merit to his arguments. “Daschle, who had made another cool million a year (plus chauffeur and Caddy) for unspecified services to a pal’s private equity firm, represented everything Obama said he’d come to Washington to upend.” I find some truth in this statement. Obama promised change if he was voted into office but when he got there he found it was a little more difficult than he thought it would be. And that is what normally happens with new presidents. They don’t always know exactly how much power they have over congress or their cabinets.
Another thing this article brought up is all the wasteful spending that seems to have found its way into the economic stimulus package. “Such as the $88.6 million for new construction for Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have shrinking enrollment and no plans for new construction.” This spending makes little sense but this is what happens when a bill gets rushed through the process. The bill needs to be passed quickly and to do that you have to give everyone something and that leads to wasteful spending. I think that the Package that will be signed by Obama will have way more wasteful spending in it than if Congress was to take its time “pushing the economic wet noodle.”
Connection: Honeymoon Period. This guy is talking about a type of honeymoon period. This isn’t the same as what congress gives a new president but it is similar. It is similar because we are finally starting to see that presidents can’t really do all they promise to do.
Finally! Someone who speaks of some common sense in the media! This guy actually took a few minutes out of the day to say what Obama is actually doing, not just some TV coverage of him giving a speech in some unheard of city trying to stimulate support for his “stimulus” package. Granted, most of the items that the author listed I didn’t know about so they must be taken with a grain of salt as to whether it is the whole story or not. But the point is the same. President Obama has clearly been using the electronic throne the last few days, trying to promote his legislation for what essentially is a big spending bill. Obama has promised many things to us as a nation – I didn’t know spending money on contraceptives and public schools (that apparently don’t need any new construction anyway) is what he meant. I’m a little shocked, but I guarantee most of the nation isn’t as all they know is what the six o’clock news tells them. This is mostly… Obama is God, worship Obama, and, oh yea, meet your Maker… Obama.
I actually saw a poll on the CNN website last night that said, “What did you think of President Obama’s prime-time speech tonight?” The answer choices were: 1. Thumbs up; 2. I didn’t watch it; 3. Thumbs up. I’m not kidding. That’s liberal media bias to the extreme. You might argue that it was simply a glitch, which might be true, but the fact that the 3. Thumbs Up (supposedly should have been Thumbs Down) answer choice came last proves mostly to be wrong. Shouldn’t the answer choices be Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, or I didn’t watch (in that order)? You usually only throw the elective answers at the end, not the yes/no answer choices.
Connection: Liberal media bias and the electronic throne. President Obama, just the same as anyone else would, is using the electronic throne to the max. The Obama-worshiping media is eating it up like a lab on fresh meat, and the American public is telling the media they like it by actually watching that garbage. I hope someday we wake up to the fact that the media may (and many times is) biased and, even, twisted.
In response to Bruce Graham:
There’s no doubt that President Obama is in a honeymoon period. Look at the media. He’s basically a god to the American media. Someday though, the American public will (almost certainly) grow tired of the same “Obama is Lord” stories for the next four full years. This will mean the media will turn on their own deity to do what? Make money. That’s all the media is about. They report about Daschle not because they think he’s wrong but because his story will make money for them. The wasteful spending issue won’t get reported on by the media because there’s nothing in it for them – they don’t want to disclose the details of the “stimulus” package to the public for fear that they might discover what’s actually in the thing. If someone does wake up and get the word out to the public on where $1 TRILLION dollars in taxpayer’s money will go to, the media probably won’t put it out there because they need to get more money. Somehow a liberal spending package will benefit them, so they will keep doing what they doing as long as the green bills pile up on their desks.
Long live the media.
The success of Obama has so far been undermined by a few of his staff and the rapidly thrown together stimulus package to boost the economy. A perfect example is, Tom Daschle who is “delinquent” on his taxes and is talking money that he hadn’t even worked for. Not paying your taxes is terrible on so many levels especially if you work in politics. Not only does this make Obama look bad, since Daschle has not been the only one to forfeit his spot, but this shows a terrible example for the rest of the nation. He makes more than most everyone in this nation, yet he decides not to pay his taxes. We may have a progressive tax meaning he has to pay more, but does a person really need that much money. The stimulus package may also be a bust since there really isn’t enough money in it to get the economy rolling and the Republicans nor Obama is really happy with it.
Connection: Political corruption and promises. As we have seen Daschle may not be selling a Senate seat, but he was taking money that he didn’t even earn and then didn’t pay his taxes. We have also seen that presidents may also be able to accomplish about 75% of what they promise and even though it wasn’t what he hoped for; Obama is doing what he can to get the economy on the mend.
I’m pretty sure that not everyone is perfect. Really. And Obama is no exception to that rule no matter how glorified or holy the media made him out to be. I wasn’t expecting anything god-like from him. People who were are all fooling themselves. He’s just a man.
Now, what Obama really needs right now is faith. I know I just linked back to that whole deity thing, but it’s the truth. Give him sometime to make something good before shooting him down for everything bad. As has been said before I’m sure, nothing can prepare anyone for the office of the presidency except for the office itself. Let’s just look at it like this: imagine the office of the president is like a stick shift. Sure Obama could be told how to drive it and get it in gear before actually driving it, but he’s only had experience with automatics, maybe one with a sport shift even. But he doesn’t really know what he’s up against until he actually straps himself in and starts it. Now all that advice, though handy, can’t translate itself into muscle memory. He has to get a feel for it first. And that may include killing the car a few times. I know it did when I learned how to drive manual. But pretty soon, Obama will begin to understand what the car likes and dislikes, how exactly to throw it in gear driving slow and how to do it going faster. Soon after that he may even learn to power shift in case he wants to be cool and go street racing.
In the end, he just needs time to acclimate. He’s got a lot on his shoulders. I don’t know if people can truly understand that unless they have been president at one point. Because most of them haven’t been, they have no room to talk smack unless he is actually making an attempt at sabotage, which I’m sure he isn’t. He’s doing everything possible for our country. Give him a little time before you just crush him with criticism.
Connection: Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure that it was Kautzman, when in class we were talking about qualifications for the president, who mentioned that there really isn’t anything that can prepare you for that job other than the job itself. It makes sense considering there is no other job like it.
Something tells me this article was somewhat biased? Talk about a slam on Obama. Obviously, this writer is not too happy about Barack Obama being President. He is blowing things way out of proportion and should take a step back and observe for a while rather than criticize. This is a very normal thing that we’ve seen with many rookie presidents. Most candidates make fairly substantial promises to get into office in the first place, but take a little while to get the ball rolling. Take, for example, ASB Officer Elections. During the three and a half years I’ve been in high school, nearly every single candidate has mentioned something about getting mixers back (yes, including me). Well, do we have mixers back?
Exactly.
Obama has struggled carrying out some of his promises right away because he keeps getting screwed over by people in his administration or people he associates himself with. Blagojevich and Daschle, to name a couple, have made some people think differently of Obama. I think we should give Obama some space and time to get things done, and wait to see how things play out before we say: “The nation would rub its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama would give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell – and that this president told better than anyone.”
Connection: Honeymoon period. The honeymoon period is the first 100 days after the new president gets inaugurated. Obama has just recently begun his honeymoon period. In my opinion, people like this author need to relax and see how the rest of the honeymoon period plays out before jumping to conclusions and saying that Obama is breaking all of his promises.
“It’s not just the waste, such as the $88.6 million for new construction for Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have shrinking enrollment and no plans for new construction” (Charles Krauthammer). This reminds me of the Alaskan Bridge to Nowhere. Essentially, it’s just another example of wasteful spending. The stimulus plan seemed doomed from the beginning since Democrats and Republicans can’t seem to lay some common groundwork together. As for President Obama’s cabinet members, there’s really not much you can do if they decide to quit early in the game or are forced to resign because of hidden corruption in their lives. This seems like the “good bad news” that many McCain supporters have been hoping for. Granted, all of this current chaos could become old news quickly if the economy sees general improvement, at which time critics may claim to have foreseen that Obama was bound to pull through all along. Public opinion of the president these days is greatly influenced by the optimistic or pessimistic nature of the voter. So ask yourself this question: do you believe Obama has doomed us all with this nonsense about a rushed stimulus package with no seemingly immediate effect, or do you believe that Obama deserves more support from the public since he’s a very knowledgeable individual who will still be a very confident and capable leader when the crisis is over? Obviously these aren’t the only two opinions available to choose from; just a few options to get the brain juices flowing.
Connection: Too much credit when things go right and too much blame when things go wrong! It feels like Barack Obama’s presidency is somewhat representative of a normal wave, complete with crests, troughs, and overall amplitude. Right now, with all the negative spotlights being shed on the president, he is experiencing the trough part of the wave. But as the picture indicates, the crest always comes after the trough. And what comes after that is easy enough to predict because what goes up must come down.
Okay, so maybe Obama was a little over eager about what he hoped to accomplish. But honestly, why do we judge him at every miniscule thing he does? He hasn’t even been in office for three months and it seems like everybody is expecting him to have done miracles by now. Maybe its because he set himself up at such a high level that people seemed to think he would go strong right off the bat. But I guess that when there seem to be so many ‘mistakes’ made in his first couple weeks, people will always judge. I will say though, that these mistakes are kind of astonishing. However, I wouldn’t say that Obama’s stimulus package is necessarily a “legislative abomination.” Like the quote at the beginning of this article says, “A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe.” Even though this author thinks that this package is a waste of money, I commend Obama in taking control of this situation in a timely manner so that it doesn’t turn into a catastrophe. Plus, I really don’t think that spending money on rebuilding a school could possibly be viewed as a waste. If our schools of America aren’t efficient, how can we expect our next generations to be better?
Connection:
This article connects to the stimulus package. This article shows that some people like it, while some people think that it is chalked up with wasteful spending and unnecessary budget cuts.
In response to Brennan Waller:
“Talk about a slam on Obama (Waller).” I really don’t think that this author is slamming Obama, he is a writer for crying out loud. When the media was talking crap about George W. Bush, (which was all the time) no one said we should support him or he’s done better. This is what people do; they criticize what a person does wrong and do not lift them up when they are the right track and moving forward. “Obama has struggled carrying out some of his promises right away because he keeps getting screwed over by people in his administration or people he associates himself with (Waller).” Now Blagojevich wasn’t Obama’s fault, but the others such as Daschle, he picked, it’s his fault. Pity may have come into play during the election, but if we say that Obama is being screwed over because of people in his administration, we’re saying oh, it’s not his fault. Sounds to me like pity points. I am all for Obama succeeding and going down in history in saving the economy, getting millions jobs, and significantly reducing the national debt. But I don’t want to hear that he couldn’t get things done because of politically corrupt politicians he hired.